Barack Obama shall now turn his hallowed attention to comprehensive immigration reform, according to Janet Napolitano. We’ve already heard the word on healthcare, Iraq, Afghanistan, energy, the environment, Portuguese water dogs, Gitmo, military tribunals, terrorism, and many more issues.
The only thing remaining was immigration and, lo and behold, it shall be dealt with. Don’t get me wrong, I do agree with the administration’s thinking on the issue, especially on the last point:
Laying out the administration’s bottom line, Ms. Napolitano said officials would argue for a “three-legged stool” that includes tougher enforcement laws against illegal immigrants and employers who hire them and a streamlined system for legal immigration, as well as a “tough and fair pathway to earned legal status.”
The problem that I have right now is that unemployment has crossed 10%, companies are shedding employees every single month, private spending is frozen just as it was a year ago, government waste is distorting the real state of the economy, and Obama is focusing on what are, really, peripheral issues.
What does an unemployed guy care more about? Health insurance, immigration, or saving his mortgage, his car, his whole life?
Furthermore, the Congress just passed an extension to UI, but what they should really be thinking about is giving the private sector incentives to hold on to their employees – for instance, targeted tax cuts – rather than extending the unemployment insurance tax to pay for a program which doesn’t save or create jobs.
